Charging Lightning from DuroMax 10kw Generator Failed

[ericpullen]

Has anyone been able to charge their Lightning from a generator. I was trying to hook up my mobile charge station up to a 10kw DuroMax generator to see if I can charge my truck instead of driving 30mins to a DCFC and leaving the house without power.

I tried both with and without the ProPower Onboard turned on, so I know it wasn’t that, but every time I hooked up the charger it just had an amber light and the truck said it couldn’t identify charger.

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[TaxmanHog]

Has anyone been able to charge their Lightning from a generator. I was trying to hook up my mobile charge station up to a 10kw DuroMax generator to see if I can charge my truck instead of driving 30mins to a DCFC and leaving the house without power.

I tried both with and without the ProPower Onboard turned on, so I know it wasn’t that, but every time I hooked up the charger it just had an amber light and the truck said it couldn’t identify charger.

I have the same generator [12 kw] but have not tried doing this.

BTW, did you try both the 240 & 120 volt adapters??

 

[ericpullen]

I have the same generator but have not tried doing this.

BTW, did you try both the 240 & 120 volt adapters??

Yes and neither worked, but I was able to use other things plugged into the outlets.

My guess is either the power is just too dirty or the ground caused it problems.

 

[TaxmanHog]

Yes and neither worked, but I was able to use other things plugged into the outlets.

My guess is either the power is just too dirty or the ground caused it problems.

Very well could be the ground.

On side note couple years ago when I used my Duromax to power the house, the generator frequency was off by a few hertz preventing my APC UPS from switching from backup mode to grid mode, once I got it right at 60hz the switch over occured.

Don't know if this could be an issue with the FMC functionality.

 

[vandy1981]

If the duramax has a floating neutral then any respectable EVSE will throw a ground fault and you won't be able to charge. Some of the cheapo Chinese white label EVSEs are more lenient with safety and would possibly work in that situation.

The EVSE wants to see a voltage across the hot and ground before it starts charging. The ground and neutral are bonded in your home so there's no problem using the EVSE when plugged into the wall. Most generators don't have a bonded neutral and ground so the EVSE will throw an error.

You need to buy a or make bonding plug like this to bond the ground and neutral. As always, hacks like this are done at your own risk (especially when recommended by a random internet person).

 

[Maquis]

If the duramax has a floating neutral then any respectable EVSE will throw a ground fault and you won't be able to charge. Some of the cheapo Chinese white label EVSEs are more lenient with safety and would possibly work in that situation.

The EVSE wants to see a voltage across the hot and ground before it starts charging. The ground and neutral are bonded in your home so there's no problem using the EVSE when plugged into the wall. Most generators don't have a bonded neutral and ground so the EVSE will throw an error.

You need to buy a or make bonding plug like this to bond the ground and neutral. As always, hacks like this are done at your own risk (especially when recommended by a random internet person).

While that’s 100% correct, I don’t think that’s whats going on here. When the Ford Mobile Charger detects a ground problem, it shows a red light, not amber.

 

[ericpullen]

I may try making a bonding plug just to see if that’s the issue later today after I head to an EA FC this afternoon to get back up to 90%.

 

[ericpullen]

Tried the bonding plug and it did work for a few minutes then turned amber. I’m thinking the output is just too dirty/low voltage to run it.
I’ll look at the generator specs and see if I can adjust it.

 

[Maquis]

Tried the bonding plug and it did work for a few minutes then turned amber. I’m thinking the output is just too dirty/low voltage to run it.
I’ll look at the generator specs and see if I can adjust it.

The voltage shouldn’t be a problem - you can feed the 240V plug with 120 and it will charge. I’m going with “dirty.”

 

[TaxmanHog]

I’ll look at the generator specs and see if I can adjust it.

Try turning off the automatic idle control switch to off if your generator has one.

 

[Battalion3419]

I also vote "Dirty".
I tried to charge off a Fire Camp generator 25KV (Mosquito Fire) as a test this last summer. As a Logistics Section Chief, it will be my task to charge vehicles as they come into an Incident Base. It did not go well. It charged the truck alright but would not except a DC fast charge when I went to return to home. Let me tell you that was a long, long trip back to San Luis Obispo via level 2 chargers.

The truck finally cleared itself just in time for the dealer to looked at it in SLO.

 

[Maquis]

I also vote "Dirty".
I tried to charge off a Fire Camp generator 25KV (Mosquito Fire) as a test this last summer. As a Logistics Section Chief, it will be my task to charge vehicles as they come into an Incident Base. It did not go well. It charged the truck alright but would not except a DC fast charge when I went to return to home. Let me tell you that was a long, long trip back to San Luis Obispo via level 2 chargers.

The truck finally cleared itself just in time for the dealer to looked at it in SLO.

The modules in the truck that control L2 and DCFC are totally different. I doubt the DCFC problem was caused by using the generator.

 

[Battalion3419]

Well now, that may be as such, but as 35-year wildland firefighter I am trained not to believe in coincidence...

So, I will leave it to the contractors we hire to figure it out because I'm just a knuckle dragging, dirt face grunt with a shovel in his hand...

God, how I love this rain!

 

[Avocadodude]

.

God, how I love this rain!

Me too, but also hoping everyone keeps up on weed abatement in a couple months. Not to derail this thread

 

[Blochead21]

Did you guys ever get the generator to charge the truck?

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